The difference between left and right colon cancer patients’ characteristics - single center experience

Summary Objectives : The purpose of the study was to determine the difference in time until the appearance of relapse or metas tases in patients treated for colorectal cancer, depending on the location of the tumor in the left or right colon at the oncology clinic of clinical Medical centre osijek between 1 st January 2010 and 31 st December 2012. Study design : historical prospective study Material and methods : study included patients whose data were recorded from medical archive at the oncology clinic of Clinical Medical Centre Osijek. The data on patients’ deaths were recorded from the Registry Office of the Republic of croatia. Results : the study included 272 patients, 160 (58.8%) men and 112 (41.2%) women. according to the location, left sided colon tumor was discovered in 211 (77.6%) patients and right-sided in 61 (22.4%). the median age was 67 years. right-sided colon tumors are considerably larger with median diameter of 6 cm, with median number of 16. Median of time until the appearance of the metastases is 20 months (interquartile range is from 8 to 29 months); marked time being shorter in right-sided colon tumors. Positive outcome of the treatment was achieved in 205 (75.4%) patients, with no significant difference in com parison to the colon cancer localization. By using Kaplan-Meier analysis of patients’ survival rates, a total 5- year survival rate of 72% was achieved in right-sided colon tumor in comparison to 62% in patients with the left-sided colon tumor. Conclusion : This study confirms that there is a difference in colorectal cancer according to its localisation. Patients with right-sided colorectal cancer are older, the carcinoma is larger, the time until the appearance of a relapse or a metastases is shorter in right sided colon cancer while 5-year survival rate is lower in left sided colon cancer.